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“I’m here,” my father’s growled, impatient voice answers.
“I’ve got Odette in my office.”
“Odette, are you alright?”Anger brims just under the surface, and he doesn’t even know what happened yet.
“I’m fine, Daddy.”The knuckle throbbing intensifies, but otherwise, I feel good about standing up for myself.
“What’s going on then?”he growls.
I open my mouth to answer, but Mr.Tuckwood beats me to it.“Odette broke another girl’s nose this morning.”He pauses for a second.“Unprovoked.”
My jaw drops in shock.
“No,” Carmine spits out.He knows me too well.
“Excuse me?”Tuckwood sputters.“Yes, she did.”
There’s a tapping sound before asking, “Do you have proof?”
“Proof?”The principal scratches his jaw.“The proof is the other girl in the nurse’s office with blood staining her face and clothes.The crooked nose.I assure you it happened.”
“Odette?”The man across from me can’t detect it, but my father is fueled with rage right now.
“I hit her, Daddy.”I won’t lie.
“There you see–”
My father interrupts.“Why?”
This is a little harder to answer.I can’t very well say I was enraged at the mere idea that she would go down on Malice when I don’t want any other woman touching him, but I have to give the man something, so I opt for a partial truth.
“She’s the reason Malice was sent here.”Dead silence follows my confession.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.Go to class.”The line dies, and I stand up.
“Now, wait a minute, young lady.You’ll stay right here until he arrives.I can’t have you out there in the rest of the population.”Sitting back down, I pull out a book to read while I wait.Finding me still here and not in class will only further infuriate my father.
“Miss Carmichael!”Tuckwood shouts as he opens the door.The woman jumps a foot in the air.“Come in here.”
Noa Carmichael is so new that she doesn’t even know all the other teachers’ names in the school.I believe she’s even younger than CJ.She’s beautiful with her long dark hair, pale greyish-blue eyes, and fair complexion.She dresses conservatively, too.No skirts above the knee, never more than her collarbone showing, and she always wears long sleeves.
“Yes, Mr.Tuckwood?”She’s hesitant to come in, and I don’t blame her.Erin Tuckwood is the worst kind of asshole.He’s always on a power trip just because he’s in charge.On more than one occasion, I’ve seen him abuse his position with students and staff.However, he’s in for a rude awakening when my father shows up.
“Keep an eye on Odette until her father arrives.”He slams out of the room, leaving us awkwardly in his office.
Sitting in the chair next to me, the teacher’s eyes are glued to my swelling hand.Bruising is already starting to appear, but I still don’t regret hitting Margo.
“We should put some ice on that,” Miss Carmichael finally speaks.“It’ll help with the swelling.”She moves to get up.
“No.”My tone is harsher than I intend.“I’d rather it got worse before I try to make it better.”
“Why?”Her hand still clenches the doorknob.I nod for her to sit.
“The worse it looks, the angrier my father will be.Tuckwood there needs to be taken down a peg or two, and Margo needs to be taught a lesson.This will do it.”Malice must be rubbing off on me.I never would have thought the same a week ago; I would have done my best to hide it.
“I see.”I can tell that she actually doesn’t.If I had to guess, she has no idea who my father is.“How about some ibuprofen, then?”I give her a clipped nod, and she rushes out, first making sure the coast is clear, then grabbing her purse from her desk along with a cup of water from the cooler.
“I know I’m fairly new here”—she hands me two pills from the bottle and the drink—“but is there normally so much tension in the office?”
